For the past few years, we’ve been lucky enough to have Inspire: Culture, Learning, Libraries taking part in the Big Draw Festival. Previously, they've had numerous unique and exciting Big Draw events across their libraries,  exploring everything from kinetic sculpture to mass portrait drawing. Their 2022 plans are equally as exciting as they have partnered with ABL Health to deliver The Big Draw with a creative approach that supports the health and wellbeing of children and their families across Nottinghamshire. They have produced a programme that is packed full of creativity, with dance workshops, animation classes and even a touring exhibition!

Today on the blog, we’re chatting with renowned dance artist Takeshi Matsumoto, about his artistic practice, how dance can help spark creativity and his collaboration with Inspire for their Big Draw events.

Interview: Lucia Vinti with Takeshi Matsumoto

Hi Takeshi - thank you so much for taking the time to do an interview with us! Could you let our readers know a little bit about yourself and your work?

Hello! My name is Takeshi, I am a Japanese dance artist based in London. I create dance performances for and with young audiences and perform nationally and internationally. Recently, my artist collaborators and myself created a performance called Club Origami which has been touring in the UK and beyond. So I work with lots of children from all sorts of backgrounds. Alongside the performance work, I also visit Thailand to teach dance performances to children who are socially marginalised to use dance and movement as a tool to express, empower and build trust.

^{Photo Credit: Summer Dean}

You’ve been collaborating with our Sponsor-Partner Inspire for their Big Draw events this year. Could you let us know about this collaboration, and why it’s important to you? 

This collaboration happens in various libraries in Nottinghamshire. I asked Inspire Libraries for this year’s event to happen in a large space because I am a dance performer and love to move around. I want participants to move freely and collaborate to create a large piece of drawing work. In this collaboration, participants are invited to explore drawing using their body on a big sheet of drawing paper. We move, dance, discover something new and colour and draw using our imagination. It is important because we spent isolation with limited contact with friends and family during the lockdown. I wanted to celebrate our encounter and having fun through moving and drawing together in this project.

As part of the collaboration, you recently completed an amazing series of school workshops where pupils created large scale artworks using dance and movement.  How did the workshops go and what was a highlight for you?

This series of workshops with school pupils in Mansfield went really well. There were around 400 pupils attended and we created 26 pieces of large drawing work. Because we traced and drew the outline of each pupil’s body on the paper, it is amazing to realise that everybody was involved regardless of age, abilities and background. My highlight was when pupils were asked to use their imagination to turn random shapes into something else by drawing and colouring. This was a moment when every child (and teachers) was immersed in drawing with such a high concentration. Many children drew animals, landscapes, planets, friends and families and foods. I noticed that quite a few children drew pizzas in sessions before lunch. They must have been very hungry!

^{Photo Credit: Neil Pledger}

You run workshops with such a wide array of demographics, sharing your work with people young and old from many walks of life. Have you learnt anything surprising or inspiring from your workshop participants?

It is always surprising, inspiring and a privilege to witness creativity and expression from the participants in the workshop, whether that’s in the form of dancing or drawing. I feel touched to see the human side in the work participants create. In this workshop series, collaboration is one of the key words as we create one big artwork together. In one of the workshops I delivered, there was a young person who is a wheelchair user. It was inspiring to observe how young people helped each other to collaborate with care and friendship while attending to what you wanted to do/create. 

How can dance improve wellbeing and help people be creative?

Dance is a fantastic tool to improve our body-mind wellbeing. When I dance to my favourite music, I feel uplifted and energized. As a dance movement psychotherapist, I also witnessed that dance can be a tool to express emotions and communicate things that are difficult to put in words. I often use free dance as a way into engaging with each individual’s creativity, especially for young participants. In this free dance, participants can move and dance to a soundtrack however they want to in a safe and non-judgmental space. I believe there is a connection between moving freely to activate the body and sparking the creativity and imagination.

^{Photo Credit: Neil Pledger}

Our Big Draw theme this year is Come Back to Colour which is all about capturing, celebrating and finding joy - aside from dance, what brings you a lot of joy in life?

I think there are many things that bring me joy in my life. I like nature, food, music and travelling. But working with children brings a great amount of joy, surprise and laughter, observing them being spontaneous, playful and naughty. They help me get back to the beginner’s mind on how to own and enjoy my life fully.

Do you have anything else exciting coming up that you’d like to share with our readers?

With Club Origami, we are going to children’s hospitals in France and Switzerland this November. This is very exciting to deliver a dance show to those who would not be able to go to a theatre to enjoy performances.  In December, I will travel to Thailand to collaborate with a shadow puppet artist to create a performance and visit a migrant camp on the border of Thailand and Myanmar. There are many marginalised children who have profound difficulties accessing basic human needs such as education, health care and career opportunities. So this is important to me to work with/for these children and explore possibilities of art and performance as ways to improve and empower their lives.

Thank you so much Takeshi for your time and brilliant answers!

The work created with Takeshi and the school children will be shown in a touring exhibition around Inspire libraries

Mansfield Central Library Gallery: Friday 14 October - Thursday 24 November

Beeston Library Gallery: Tuesday 29 November - Sunday 15 January 2023

Worksop Library Gallery: Wednesday 18 January - Monday 27 February 2023

West Bridgford Library Gallery: Thursday 2 March - Tuesday 11 April 2023

Check out more upcoming events happening across Inspire libraries here! & you can check out more of Takeshi's work here

Registrations are open for The Big Draw Festival 2022: Come Back to Colour! Find out more about the benefits of becoming an organiser here and other ways to support The Big Draw's mission here.